Ara, emi, ori, okan and ojiji, the disagreement among scholars about how many elements there are, why "soul" fits none of them, and what Yoruba rebirth and ancestorhood actually claim.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
For Yoruba thought, human being na composite (something wey different parts join together form). Na one power dey mold the physical body, another one dey give am life, and a third one dey make am who e be as individual, and different sources still add other elements wey scholars dey argue about. Nothing for the list correspond to wetin Christian soul be: no be one single non-physical substance wey be the real you, wey dey carry your moral record, wey dey survive death completely and face judgment. To try find that kind thing for the list of Yoruba elements na standard mistake, and everything dey loose im true meaning when person try do am.
Ara, the body. Ara cover the whole physical constitution, the outside and the inside, no be just the frame alone. Brain, heart, intestines and organs na ara . For the creation story, na Ọbàtálá dey mold ara, wey dem also dey call Ọ̀rìṣà-ńlá, wey be the craftsman of the human shape and wey tradition believe say na im make people wey dem born with special or unusual body, so instead of make people look down on dem, dem dey under im protection.
Ara no be prison for anything and e no be the lower part of pesin. Yoruba thought no get asceticism and e no get any doctrine say the physical body na fall from wetin be spiritual. Gbadegesin point out say when Yoruba people dey blame selfish pesin, wetin dem dey talk na say the pesin view stop for im ara: the criticism no be say the pesin dey take care of the body, but na say e stop there, without looking at wetin e be as ẹ̀nìyàn .
Ẹ̀mí, the animating principle. Na non-physical element wey dey supply the life force or energy wey pesin must get, otherwise the pesin no dey alive at all . Idowu connect am closely with breath and with the whole way breathing dey work, wey be the clearest way e dey show . Na Ọlọ́dùmarè directly dey give am and no other pesin, and whether e dey or e no dey na wetin dey make the difference between life and death .
The main point about ẹ̀mí, and the reason why e no be the soul: na say everyone share the same type, and e no dey make pesin different from another pesin. Wetin Gbadegesin dey argue na say, because ẹ̀mí na the same active life force for every pesin, e no fit be the basis wey dem go take identify pesin as this particular self; that role belong to orí . Na Ẹ̀mí dey make you dey alive. E no be wetin dey make you you.
Orí, the inner head. The element wey dey responsible for individuality, personality and destiny, wey dem treat in full for im own separate file. Orí na the individuating element and e still be divinity .
Ọkàn, the heart. E be both the physical organ and the seat of one kind intuitive thinking wey close to wetin English dey call will: as the physical heart dey coordinate the body through pumping, na so ọkàn dey coordinate and motivate the parts of a pesin, dey direct dem toward a purpose and dey sustain dem against wahala . Na Ọkàn still be where emotion and thought dey stay for ordinary Yoruba idiom, the way English idiom dey put thought for head and feeling for heart. Gbadegesin include ọkàn among the parts wey make up a pesin; but the account wey Hallen and Sodipo get from the onísègùn give only three: ara, ẹ̀mí and orí .
Òjìji, the shadow. Dem understand am as part of the pesin wey get real role, but e no active reach the others for sustaining the self. Accounts dey vary by region and tradition. E fit remain for earth after ara die and e fit take physical form, but e need the continued presence of ẹ̀mí before e fit talk, and some people hold say e no dey do pass just to mark the presence of ẹ̀mí inside ara . Confidence: medium, because the regional variation really dey and no single account be the final authority.
Ẹsẹ, the leg. Kola Abimbola add this one as a fourth element apart from the three wey Hallen and Sodipo give. For ordinary meaning na leg, but for the context of personhood e mean struggle, hard work, strife, and e dey bring the principle say the potential inside pesin orí must become reality through personal effort . As symbol of power, movement and activity, e be vital part of human personality for both physical and spiritual sense .
No agreed list dey, and the differences no be just about grammar or terms.
Hallen and Sodipo report three elements from the onísègùn: ara, ẹ̀mí, orí . Wetin give dem authority na say dem ask traditional practitioners and record their answers, instead of to just arrange things from published sources.
Idowu give ara, ẹ̀mí and orí with detailed explanation of ẹ̀mí as breath, inside a framework wey treat ẹ̀mí in ways wey invite comparison with the Christian soul .
Gbadegesin give ara, ọkàn, ẹ̀mí and orí .
Kola Abimbola add ẹsẹ, wey make am four .
Different sources add òjìji .
Two conclusions dey follow from this. First, Yoruba catechism no dey. Na oral tradition of practice and thinking wey families, priesthoods and philosophers carry come, with regional variations and without any synod to standardize am, and the disagreement among modern scholars partly show say true variation dey inside the tradition, and e partly show the different questions wey each scholar dey ask. Any source wey present one single definitive list of the parts of a pesin dey try smooth things over.
Second, the disagreements gather around the exact elements wey a Christian or Cartesian frame go need. Everybody agree on ara and ẹ̀mí and orí, wey be the elements wey the tradition dey use steadily for practice. The extra additions wey people dey contest, ọkàn, òjìji, ẹsẹ, na dem be the ones wey person go need to build something wey behave like soul, will, or moral agent for European sense. That kind pattern dey show say dem no arrange the tradition to answer the kind questions wey make people invent those Western categories.
The Christian soul, as a Yoruba reader wey grow up for church go take understand am, get specific shape. E dey single. E no be physical. Na im be the true self, so the body just be like container. E dey carry moral responsibility and na im dem go judge. E dey survive death completely and wetin go happen to am after death depend on the life wey the pesin live and the faith wey e hold. Na God dey create am individually for each pesin at conception.
Check the Yoruba elements against that profile.
Ẹ̀mí no be physical thing and e dey come from Ọlọ́dùmarè, so two features match. But no be the true self, because e no dey make person distinct; e no dey carry moral record; and no be wetin dem dey judge, because judgement no dey.
Orí na the element wey dey make person distinct and e dey survive, so e look like wetin closer. But orí na divinity on im own, wetin soul no be; e dey carry destiny instead of moral desert; na wetin person pick or receive instead of wetin dem create for you; and for Balogun argument e concern material fortune and no be moral character at all .
Ọkàn na the seat of will and intention, wey be where moral agency for dey, but e also be the physical organ and no be wetin dey survive.
Òjìji dey survive for some accounts but na the least active element and e no even fit talk without ẹ̀mí.
No single element be the soul, and no combination be soul either, because the profile require make everything join together while the Yoruba account divide the functions deliberately. Wetin dey survive no be wetin dey make person distinct, no be wetin dey will, and no be wetin dey carry destiny. Segmentation na the design.
The mistake wey common pass for the literature, wey show for Idowu work and for plenty things wey follow after, na to translate ẹ̀mí as soul and come read the whole Yoruba anthropology through that translation. Once ẹ̀mí turn to soul, ara come turn to the body wey e dey live inside, orí come turn to something like guardian angel, and dem don quietly rebuild the system as Christian anthropology with local vocabulary. Make person watch am. The translation no innocent at all.
Ẹ̀nìyàn na the Yoruba word for human being, and wetin Gbadegesin contribute na to show say e get both ordinary descriptive sense and normative sense .
Descriptively, ẹ̀nìyàn na member of the species. Normatively, ẹ̀nìyàn dey name wetin human being suppose be, so e make sense for Yoruba to talk say person no be ẹ̀nìyàn, wey no mean say the person no be biological human being but say the person fail to be proper person. The normative concept dey develop from how person stand with other living beings and the role wey dem get among other people .
Na here Yoruba personhood take be communal without stopping to be individual. Orí dey make you strictly particular individual with share wey nobody else get, and no community fit override am. Ẹ̀nìyàn for the normative sense na something wey person dey achieve as e relate with others and wey dem dey assess. The tradition hold the two, and readers wey don see the general claim say African thought dey put individual under community suppose notice say the Yoruba case no support am like that. Orí na doctrine of individual uniqueness wey strong reach wetin any tradition get.
Death na departure instead of total destruction. The person dey go ọ̀run, and for normal case to ọ̀run bàbá ẹni, the ọ̀run of person own fathers, among person own dead people.
To become ancestor no be automatic. The sources agree say e dey available for people wey live reach good age and live well, wey in practice mean to die as old person, get children wey dey alive to bury you, and say person no die through one of the ways wey dey mark death as irregular . Person wey die young, wey no get pikin, or wey die through certain types of death no dey enter ancestorhood through the normal way.
Ancestors no dey far. People dey talk to dem, feed dem, consult dem, and dem dey appear for egúngún masquerade. Wetin dem dey claim na participation, no be remembrance: ancestors dey actively involve for the life of the lineage, and if person neglect dem, e get consequences wey dey show as bad luck wey go need diagnosis.
The category also no be universal the way "the dead" be. Your ancestors na your own, from your lineage, and dem dey call dem by name and by oríkì. Yoruba ancestor practice dey specific to family lineage, and na one reason why the nineteenth-century wars and the Atlantic trade destroy am well well: person wey dem cut off from their lineage compound dey lose access to the institution.
Àtúnwá na the name for rebirth. The word divide as àtúnwá, from tún, again, and wá, to come, so literally na to come again . The sources also give àtúnwáyé, to return to the world, and dem separate different forms inside am including ìpadàwáyé, the rebirth of ancestor, àkúdàáyá, to die and show face again, and àbíkú .
The main claim, and the point wey person must understand well, na say Yoruba rebirth na partial thing and e no require make the ancestor leave where e dey go anywhere. The descendant wey ancestor return inside get the branch of the ancestor ọkàn, the aspect wey dey carry characteristic features, no be the whole person . Na why dem fit recognize the same ancestor for more than one descendant and why dem dey continue to address the ancestor as ancestor even after dem don born the child wey dem talk say na im return. The two things dey true at the same time, but for transmigration model e no fit work like that.
Dem dey recognize am through resemblance, through dream, and through divination, and dem dey register am for naming . Bàbátúndé, father don return; Yétúndé or Yèyétúndé, mother don return; Ìyábọ̀, mother don come.
If you call this one reincarnation, you don carry the wrong model come in. For Indic traditions, rebirth na one single continuous self wey dey transfer enter new body, wey karma dey drive, across different species and lineages, and the goal na to stop am. For Yoruba case, the return dey happen inside the lineage, e be partial, e no dey empty the ancestral state, no moral ledger dey drive am, and nothing about am be problem wey person suppose escape. To return na good news. Yoruba no get doctrine to escape from the cycle, because the cycle no be trap.
Àbíkú na the name for child wey dem born to die: à-bí-kú, person wey dem born and come die, or born to die, from bí, to give birth, and ikú, death . The phenomenon wey dem dey name so na woman wey dey lose infants one after the other, wey dem understand as the same child wey dey come and dey go repeatedly.
Wetin tradition talk. Àbíkú dey belong to one group of spirit pikin-dem for ọ̀run and e don make agreement with dem sey e go return when time reach. The word wey dem dey usually use for these spirit padi-dem na ẹmẹrẹ, wey dem describe as spirit of pikin-dem wey dey waka around, enter belle, and dem dey born dem only make dem die . Wetin people dey do na to break the agreement or make am hard for the pikin to go back: divination to know whether na the case, name wey dem dey give the pikin wey dey beg or trade-off or insult am, Málọmọ́, no go again, Kòsọ́kọ́, hoe no dey to dig grave, Dúrójayé, stay enjoy life, Ìgbẹ́kọ̀yí, and to mark the body, so dat if the pikin return dem go fit recognize am with the mark.
Wetin historian-dem and doctor-dem document. How small pikin and baby dey die among Yoruba people before the twentieth century high well-well, and sickle cell disease dey happen well among West African population and e dey produce exactly the same pattern wey people dey see: pikin go look healthy when dem born am, e go dey fall sick repeatedly and die when e still small, and e dey repeat among siblings because the inheritance na recessive. Clinical literature dey discuss àbíkú and the Igbo ogbanje as culture-bound way wey people take explain why small pikin dey die and, for some cases, psychopathology .
How to hold the two together without making noise or throwing am away. The two account dey answer different questions. Sickle cell dey explain why the pikin-dem die. E no dey tell mama for 1870 wey get four small grave wetin happen to am or wetin e fit do, but the àbíkú framework dey do dat one. E dey give explanation, wetin person go do, name, and way to take follow the pikin talk, wey no be small thing and person fit even talk sey e pass wetin mortality statistics dey offer. E good make we also talk am clear sey the framework get bad side, because e put the wahala for the pikin body and for some story for the mother body, and the literature on top the shame and trouble wey dey follow mothers wey lose pikin document dat one . Both the comfort and the pain na part of the record.
Make reader also notice wetin the àbíkú material show about the cosmology. Pikin wey dey waka back and forth between ọ̀run and ayé, wey get padi-dem for there, wey person fit negotiate with, and wey dem fit mark hin body for one domain and recognize am for the other domain, fit only make sense for cosmos where the two domain join together and open to each other. Àbíkú na the orun-and-ayé structure wey dem apply to the hardest situation for human life.
The three Yoruba terms for destiny, how destiny is received, and the sustained scholarly argument over whether Yoruba destiny is fatalistic, with the case that it is negotiable rather than fixed.
Character as the whole content of Yoruba ethics, iwa pele and iwa rere, the identity of character with beauty, patience as the source of character, and an ethical system grounded in consequence and community rather than divine command.
The four-day week and the ritual calendar, how a Yoruba diagnosis of a problem actually proceeds, and an accurate account of aje, women's spiritual authority and the Gelede response.
How Yoruba philosophical concepts map and fail to map onto Greek, Christian, Islamic and modern Western categories, and what goes wrong when the translation is made anyway.
A clarification of the distinct constituents of personhood, destiny, and moral agency in Yoruba thought that are routinely conflated in English translations.
What the sources actually attribute to Olodumare, the disputed etymologies, and the live scholarly argument over whether the supreme-being framing is indigenous Yoruba thought or a shape given to it by the missionary encounter.